Turku, Finland -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/30/2014 --Medicortex Finland Oy is a start-up pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions. The company is developing a pharmaceutical therapy, which will limit the long-term effects of brain injuries, including the types of severe brain trauma that veterans may have received in combat. The Company’s other mission is to identify a biomarker and a diagnostic test to reliably establish the severity and extent of a brain injury. The company has recently launched a crowd funding campaign accessible at http://privatequity.biz/stock/medicortex-finland-oy/
In addition to soldiers in combat, athletes and sports professionals are amongst the population most likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury. Football players aren't the only brain-injured sports figures in the news today. The sports world surely remembers Michael Schumacher, the German race car driver and Formula One winner, who suffered a near-fatal ski accident and fought a serious brain injury. He was brought out of coma that he was in for several weeks due to TBI he suffered by his injuries. No matter how much attention these stories receive, the real story of sports-related TBI lies in the sheer magnitude of the problem.
Total costs in Europe are estimated at over €33 billion annually. It is estimated that TBI and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) cause 9.6 million hospitalisations in Europe annually, with total costs in excess of €64 billion.
Numerous studies have found evidence that even one minor concussion can lead to long-term neurodegeneration. The symptoms of TBI which occur as a result of repeated head trauma include sleep disturbance, problems with concentration, nausea, or seizures. When left untreated, these symptoms can develop into more severe neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Many football players, boxers and hockey players suffer memory problems, early-onset dementia, or even, in some rare cases, post-traumatic Parkinsonism.
No reliable diagnostic tool exist for evaluating the extent and severity of brain injury. Medicortex is working towards the identification of a brain injury biomarker and incorporating it into a quick and accurate diagnostic kit that can be easily used by healthcare professionals. The ideal kit will not only diagnose the presence of brain injury, it will also quantify its severity and indicate the treatment needed. In addition, the kit could become a key component of efficacy testing end point in all future clinical trials in TBI.
Why, then, is TBI so insidious and so damaging? The answer lies in the cascade of physiological events that follow brain trauma. In the hours, days, and weeks following a TBI, the increased permeability of the neuronal membrane allows for an excessive influx of metal ions and circulating free radicals which cause a series of protein degradation cascades and oxidation, leading to widespread molecular damage and neuronal cell death. In short, the damage expands if not treated after the initial trauma. Unfortunately for TBI sufferers, there are currently no treatments available. Not surprisingly, the medical community is well aware of the importance of early intervention in all forms and degrees of TBI. As Dr. Harel stresses in his vision, none of the currently available therapies really address TBI in the inclusive manner necessary to help reduce or even reverse damage already sustained, and to prevent further damage.
Medicortex Finland, currently in the proof-of-concept stage, is seeking an investment to support synthesis and initial in-vitro tissue culture studies for assessing the biological activity and lack of toxicity of its pipeline compounds.
For more information about Medicorex, please log on to http://www.medicortex.fi
To learn more about the crowd funding campaign, please log on to the following link: http://privatequity.biz/stock/medicortex-finland-oy/
About Medicortex
Medicortex Finland Oy is a start-up pharmaceutical company dedicated to finding treatments for acute neurodegenerative conditions, including TBI and stroke. One of the company’s missions is to identify biomarkers in order to reliably assess the severity and extent of brain injury. Medicortex was founded by Dr. Adrian Harel in 2014 in Turku, Finland, and operates as a privately owned company. Dr. Harel has a track record in leadership of early-stage drug discovery companies and business management.
Contact:
Adrian Harel, Ph.D., MBA
Itäinen Pitkäkatu 4 B, 4th floor
FI-20520 Turku
Finland
Tel: +358 (0) 46 611 3988
Fax: +358 (0) 2251 0100
e-mail: adrian.harel@medicortex.fi
website: http://www.medicortex.fi
Medicortex Finland Is Developing Therapeutic Drugs and Diagnostic Tools for Traumatic Brain Injury
Medicortex is currently seeking investors and has launched a crowd funding campaign in order to develop a therapeutic drug for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and to identify biomarkers to evaluate the extent and severity of brain injury.